Number
by magicalunicorn000
Summary: Inspired by Alfred's line in DCEU film Justice League, when he tells Bruce "You are the one who has her number." (Referring to Diana). The story of how exactly Bruce got Diana's number. Post- Batman vs. Superman.


Number

A Wonderbat story for the Wonderbat 100 Themes Challenge started by fyeahwonderbat on Tumblr.  
Much longer than I originally intended but what the hey, I am a sucker for a slow build. I don't even think I get to the theme until the last possible second.  
Prompt 18 - "Number" I was inspired by Alfred's line, "You are the one who has her number." And got around to contemplating how he would have gotten it.

DIANA'S POINT OF VIEW

The Gotham Police, fire department, and the mortician had all arrived on the scene where we had just battled the monster that had taken the life of Superman. Ordinarily, I do not stick around for the clean-up after a battle, I figure I get in the way of the cleaning process more than I actually help, and besides, I was still attempting to somewhat hide my identity from the world. I had realized long ago that I could not get too involved in man's world's problems without emotionally draining myself.

This clean-up, however, was an exception. I had just witnessed the death of a hero, and more than that, somebody's son, somebody's true love.

My mind flashes back to not even ten minutes ago, when I delivered the lifeless body of superman into the arms of his love, Lois Lane. I cannot help but be reminded of why I abandoned my own hopes of saving man's world. Too much death. Too much sadness. Too much loss.

I now watch as Lois tells the mortician on the scene where to deliver the body. Her eyes are still red and puffy, her hands tremble as she signs the papers, and she has a noticeable stutter as she relays the address to the man in black. The man nods solemnly at her, then proceeds to take the papers and climb into the drivers seat of hearse. Lois watches with a heavy heart as the car slowly disappears from sight.

I am so caught up in watching her that I barely notice Batman speaking behind me.

I turn to face him. "I'm sorry, I was distracted, did you say something?"

Batman stared in the same direction I was previously, and realized I was watching Lois. Without missing a beat, he replied grimly, "Lois is strong. This will be hard on her of course, but she will be okay, eventually."

"I don't know if anyone is ever completely okay after they lose someone they love." The smiling eyes of Steve Trevor flashed in my mind. A hundred years had passed and though duller now, the memory of the pain would always be there.

"No, maybe not. You'll always miss them. You don't miss them any less day to day, but eventually, you have enough other things drawing your attention that you forget to miss them for a second. And then an hour. A day. A week. But when you remember again, the pain returns, and its amplified by the fact that you feel guilty that you forgot them for even that second..." Batman paused, realizing again where he was, who he was talking to, and began to fidget with the gadgets on his belt.

"You sound as though you speak from experience." I sympathized.

He stared at me for a moment, as if contemplating how much of his past life to actually divulge to me. He then looked back at Lois, and with dark, gloomy eyes, simply replied, "I do."

We stood in silence for a moment, each probably remembering our respective past losses.

"We should probably go. I've found if I stick around too long, the GCPD tends to ask too many questions." He looks at me again, and continues, "Do you have a place to stay? I assume you're staying for the funeral."

"I am." I decided. "And I can probably persuade the hotel I was at to extend my reservation."

"You could stay with me if you want. I have more than enough spare bedrooms."

"I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."

"You saved my life." he retorted, "It's the least I could do."

"Then that would be great, thank you." I smiled at him.

He pressed a button on his gauntlet, and a robust black car pulled up in front of us. He opened the doors of the car, and I was about to climb in, when I remembered I has left my bags with my clothes on the rooftop above us.

"One second." I jumped up to the rooftop, found and grabbed my bag, then jumped back down, throwing my bag into the passengers seat.

Batman looked at me, incredulously.

I smiled and explained, "I was getting on the plane back to Paris when I saw on the news you and superman fighting that monster. This was a last second decision."

He raised an eyebrow at me, "So you carry your armor around with you, even on business trips?"

"Did I not need it?" I retorted, climbing into the passengers seat. Batman continued to stare at me in disbelief, until he finally climbed into the drivers seat.

As he pressed the button to shut the doors, I saw another police car pull up to the scene, this time with an older woman climbing out of the backseat with a kind, beautiful face, and a demeanor that reminded me of Clark for some reason. She walked around the scene for a bit before she spotted Lois, and the two embraced and I could hear their sobs even from inside the car.

"Who is that?" I asked, already suspecting the answer.

"Clark's mother." Batman replied with a somber tone.

We watched the scene for a few more seconds, when I finally had to turn away.

"Can we go now?" I pleaded, a silent tear making its way down my cheek.

Without a word, Batman puts the car in drive and speeds off and away from our battlefield.

...

Within a few minutes, we had exited Gotham and entered into a less populated, and much greener place. Beautiful deciduous trees towered over us as we sped down a now dirt road. The trip was silent, which I was grateful for, and I stared out the window for a greater portion of it.

We begin heading for a lake in the middle of a forest, and just as I become worried we will drive directly into the lake, a ramp platform rises from the water, and before I know it, we have disappeared into the tunnel, and are enveloped in total darkness. After a minute, I see fluorescent light at the end of the long tunnel, and the car makes its way into the light, where an expansive cave filled with gadgets, machines, computers, weapons, and various transportation vehicles is revealed.

Putting the car into park, batman presses the button that opens the doors, and climbs out. I follow his lead, exiting the car, and grabbing my belongings. I look around in awe in the space he has built for himself. He has dedication, I will definitely give him that. A voice I don't recognize pulls me from admiring.

"Master Wayne, after the communicator cut out I was worried you might be dead. Glad to see that's not the case." The voice came from an older man, making his way down the staircase. Regardless of his nonchalant words, his face showed he had been genuinely worried.

"Sorry Alfred, I should have checked in. I got distracted." Bruce replied as he pulled off his cowl, revealing some - very endearing I must say - cowl hair.

That is when Alfred's attention was turned to me. He couldn't hide the look of surprise that passed over his countenance.

"Well!" Alfred smiled and extended his hand to me, I took it and he shook my hand happily, "You must be the famous Diana Prince."

"I'm famous?" I smiled, looking at Bruce, who was glaring at Alfred.

Alfred ignored the glare and continued, "Well of course! This one has been talking so much about you. Well, I suppose not so much talking as stalking you."

Bruce sighed in exasperation, "Don't make me sound like that, Alfred." Bruce turned to me, "I was not stalking you, I simply read the file Lex kept on you."

"About a hundred times." Alfred scoffed.

"I was being thorough." Bruce sighed indignantly. "You are going to scare her off, Alfred."

"Oh, you're staying Miss Prince?" Alfred looked at me hopefully.

"If it's not too much trouble for you?" I inquired.

"Of course not! I always keep a guest room prepared in case Mr. recluse here decides to finally bring someone home. Unless, of course, if you'll be sharing a room?"

Bruce was clearly flustered as he admonished, "Alfred, it's not like that."

"I was just asking, I don't know how these modern relationships work."

Bruce and I looked at each other. I clarified, "Oh, well, we are not in a relationship."

"Really?" Alfred inquired. "Well, a man can hope. If I may say, it's a waste because you two would make beautiful children."

At that, Bruce and I could not make eye contact as we were both much brighter shades of red.

"She's just staying until the funeral." Bruce uttered in an attempt to change the subject.

"Funeral?" Alfred prodded, taking the bait.

"Clarks' funeral." Bruce replied grimly. "We lost him tonight."

Alfred absorbed the news for minute. "God save us all, then. You're certainly going to have your work cut out for you."

Bruce nodded slightly in reply.

"Well, I'll prepare dinner for you all. I assume you'll want to clean up first. I'll leave you to it." With that, Alfred made his way up the stairs and out of the cave, leaving Bruce and I to ourselves.

Bruce turned to me. "Sorry about him, he has a deadly case of empty nest syndrome and has been nagging me for years about grandchildren."

"That's alright, I found it rather funny." I smiled.

"Glad one of us did." He smirked, "Here, let me show you to the guest room, so you can settle in."

...

After unpacking, showering, and changing into a fresh pair of black skinny jeans and a white crew neck, I made my way downstairs to join Bruce and Alfred for dinner. Alfred cooked a delicious meal of French onion soup, flamiche, and chicken salad with almonds. Throughout the meal we talked mostly about what the world would come to without superman, and Alfred and I talked much about Paris and our shared love for pistachio financiers, which disgusted Bruce, who was apparently not an avid fan of pistachio.

"Well, we will have to make them for just us then." Alfred smiled at me.

"I can already taste them." I laughed in reply, watching Bruce shake his head at the both of us.

We helped Alfred wash and load the dishes into the dish washer, and then Alfred turned to us both.

"I'll leave you both to your own devices. It's a pleasure having you here Miss Prince."

"Please, Alfred, you can call me Diana." I smiled.

Alfred simply smiled and nodded, then waved as he made his way to his room.

"He really likes you." Bruce attested as he started the dishwasher.

"I like him. You're certainly lucky to have someone who cares for you as much as he does." I affirmed.

The side of Bruce's mouth tilted upwards into a half-smile. "Yeah, though don't get me wrong he can be a pain in my ass." He smiled again when I laughed at his candid language. He then began making his way to the staircase that led up to our respective bedrooms. "I'm sure you are tired. I wouldn't be offended if you wanted to go to sleep."

"No." I paused. "I, I just don't think I'll be able to sleep well tonight. I'd rather stay up, if that's alright."

"I understand. When nights like tonight happen sleep is often rare and plagued with nightmares."

"Exactly."

"Well, we could watch a movie, or read, or if you have work?"

"Maybe a combination of all three?" I suggest.

"Or all three, yes. Any particular one you want to start with?"

"I should probably return a few emails, tell people I won't be in this week, and I still have to lock down a theme for our charity gala next month." I reply with a sigh as I run my hands over my face and through my hair.

"I should probably do the same, minus the theme part. Work it is then. We can work in the library."

"You have a library? In your house?"

Bruce smirked, "With over 10,000 volumes. But to be frank, probably half of them are law books, which aren't exactly the lightest or best reads. Come on, I'll show you."

We ended up sitting on a comfortable red velvet couch in the middle of the library as we typed our respective emails. Eventually, when we both felt satisfied with our work, we transitioned into watching old classic movies.

We had gotten through half of Casa Blanca when Bruce asked me, "So, you were alive when this was released?"

I turned, surprised at his question, I forgot that he knows I have been in Man's world for over a century. "Yes, I remember seeing it in theatres for the first time. It still astounds me man's ability for innovation. The transition from black and white movies to color was pretty amazing."

"I can't imagine your reaction when the first computer was invented."

I laughed, "It took me so long to learn how to use one. I remember when they used to be these big boxy things, too. Now it seems like its all the rage to make the screen as small as possible."

Bruce looked at me with a glimmer in his eyes, "You sound like such an old person right now."

"Well, I am over 5,000 years old, so it would only be right." I retorted. Bruce simply looked back at the movie, in an attempt to hide his smile.

At some point, and I am not sure how, we both must have fallen asleep.

I awoke to find myself laying on top of Bruce, who was making a poor attempt at trying to get out from under me without waking me. I looked up at him, eyes still adjusting to the light.

"Sorry, I was trying not to wake you." He whispered.

"That's alright, I should get up anyways." I yawned, rolling off of him. "Sorry I fell asleep on you." I smirked at him.

Bruce stretched his arms in front of him as he got up. "It's alright, I think we're both at fault. Or I guess we could blame Casa Blanca." He looked at the TV as if it was a child that needed admonishing.

I looked at him and laughed, "I guess so."

"You hungry?" he asked, offering his hand to me.

"Starved." I replied, taking his hand to aid my ascent to a standing position.

"Alfred makes the best crepes."

...

I had decided that it would be best for me to leave straight from the funeral to the airport. I enjoyed my week at Wayne manor, and I had learned a lot about Bruce even though he tried to make it seem like he was a closed and overly complicated book. I saw through his tougher exterior and had found he had a beautiful, true and brave heart.

Regardless, I was needed back in Paris.

So after the funeral, Bruce drove me to the airport. It was a relatively silent and somber ride, considering where we had come from.

When we arrived at my terminal, Bruce got out of the car and grabbed my bag from the trunk.

"Thank you. What a gentleman." I smiled up at him, and I could swear I saw the faintest bit of color on his cheeks, but perhaps it was my imagination.

"No problem. Any time you are back in Gotham, you're always welcome to stay with me. Alfred wouldn't have it any other way."

"Thank you. And let me know how the search for the other-" I paused realizing I shouldn't say too much out loud. "Other people like me. And let me know if I can help."

"As of now the issue is finding them. But I may need help with recruiting later on, if you are offering."

"I am."

"Good." Bruce gave me his signature half smile, and began to make his way back to the car.

"Bruce?"

"Yes?" He paused, looking back at me.

I walked around to his side of the car. Then held out my hand. "Give me your phone."

He looked startled and confused at my command.

I laughed at his surprise and continued, "You are going to need a faster way to contact me than through my work email."

"Right." He scrambled to find his phone in his pocket, and handed it over to me. I took it from him, noticing that as our hands brushed, he held on to the phone for longer than necessary. I called my own phone number from his cell.

"There. Now you can just add my name from your call log."

"Um, yeah, good." He nervously replied.

"Bruce? I gave you my cell phone number, not my left kidney, don't act all weird about it."

"What? I am not acting weird. What do you mean?" He replied indignantly.

"You are acting like I just gave you an engagement ring."

He scoffed, "I am not."

"Alfred was right. You are deathly afraid of commitment." I accused, and began to walk towards the terminal door.

"I am not- wait when did Alfred say that?"

"Goodbye Bruce." I waved over my shoulder, leaving a very flustered Bruce Wayne behind me.

...

Author: Okay yeah I told you I kind of diverged from the prompt hahahaha but I was just setting up the scenario where Bruce and Diana exchange numbers because I thought that was a cute moment in Justice League where Alfred admonishes Bruce because he won't call Diana because HE HAS HER NUMBER I love awkward Bruce and I love him even more paired with Diana 3 3 3


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